July 14, 2017

Cumulonimbus Cloud seen from the International Space Station

The cauliflower-like formations above the flat part of this cumulonimbus cloud represent overshooting cloud tops. Overshooting tops occur when forces push the clouds up through the troposphere, the lowest region of the atmosphere, and into the stratosphere. The warm central Pacific Ocean sea surface during the 2015-2016 El Niño lofted abnormal amounts of cloud ice and water vapor into the stratosphere, creating conditions similar to those that could occur on a larger scale in a warming world.